FIRST DOWN – DFS BARGAIN BASEMENT BLUE LIGHT SPECIALS

Time to go deep and cheap for week 4 DFS plays. These plays won’t be for the faint of heart, that much is for sure. Your eyes aren’t deceiving you; I have IDP players listed below. No, you won’t find DFS IDP at Draft Kings, Fan Duel or FantasyScore, but you will find it a ReDraftHero, a new DFS site. For transparency, the chart below on the right shows how last week’s BBBLS selections performed.

Ryan Fitzpatrick scored over 20 points in week 3. I don’t think anyone can complain about a 20+-point effort when you snatch your QB off the waiver wire. Jonathan Stewart (5.20 points) not only disappointed but he’s now injured and in danger of missing week 4. With DeMarco Murray inactive in week 4 it was safe to plug Ryan Matthews into DFS lineups. His 20.80 points were nice too. This week Murray is expected back so Matthews will be sharing carries. Stevie Johnson failed to hit double digits for the first time this year. Figures. Tyler Lockett, is currently a boom/bust option. He was more bust than boom in week 3. The Rams/Steelers game was an ugly low scoring affair and Jared Cook crapped the bed because of it. Chandler Jones whimpered off to his bye week but both Khalil Mack and Anthony Barr had plus performances. A concussion cut Xavier Rhodes’ week 3 short or he’d have likely broke double digits. Morgan Burnett was unfortunately inactive.

SECOND DOWN – TIT FOR TAT: SUBSTITUTE THIS!

Tit (offense) for Tat (defense) this week. As I said last week, being a starter isn’t necessarily what it used to be back in the day. I say that because the NFL has become so specialized that it’s all about the formation and play a team is going to run and not the best 11 players. It’s about the best 11 players for that play. And on the defensive side of the ball team’s value specialized players as much as on the offensive side. Below is a chart that shows how many unique defensive lineups each team has used through the first three weeks of the season. Hard to believe that the 49ers and Falcons have each used just 39 unique lineups while the Buccaneers have used almost 100 more.

THIRD DOWN – STEVE’S SEVEN SLEEPERS

To qualify the player can’t rank in the top-36** at their respective position based on the season long rankings in the Huddle IDP Expert League, and when possible I’ll pick players that are available on waivers.  Just like last year, the following week I’ll include how this week’s sleepers did score wise. Being week 1, hopefully you don’t need deep sleeper help like this but if you do, it’s here for your benefit.

For a very short moment, I gave consideration to Jimmy Clausen as my sleeper, and then I realized I was having a nightmare. So Derek Carr it will be.  Duke Johnson is a risky play but I think this is the week we see the Browns get him involved against a Chargers team that ranks 2nd in points allowed to RBs. Eddie Royal hasn’t paid off on his preseason sleeper label he was tagged with and with Clausen at QB he’s a risky play this week but the Raiders are too good a matchup for me to pass up. Same goes for Martellus Bennett. My guess is that many will shy away from Bennett because of Clausen but don’t. Why? Did you see what Gary Barnidge did against the Raiders last week? If you did then you know why Bennett is my pick. Hurricane Joaquin may impact the Washington/Philadelphia game but latest models show it skirting out to sea. If that happens, and the game gets played this week (a move to week 8 is a possibility), then look for Fletcher Cox to make Kirk Cousins very uncomfortable en-route to a solid fantasy day. Vincent Rey has a plus matchup against a Chiefs team that ranks 3rd in points allowed to LBs.  Tashaun Gipson, like Rey, has a plus matchup this week. For Gipson it’s a date with a Chargers team that’s given up more points to DBs than any other team has.

FOURTH DOWN –TRENCH WARFARE

Chiefs Rushing Offense

Bengals Rushing Defense